I went to see the movie 'PAUL' last night and am slightly worried about how much I enjoyed it... and that I got pretty much all the geeky jokes! Aargh! I never thought of myself as a nerd but I guess all the research I've been doing for my books has given me a deep appreciation of comic book convention-goers, conspiracy theorists and classic sci-fi references. It WAS very funny. I'm still chuckling. There's a brilliant time travel joke and some fantastic scenes at Comicon. Actually, you really didn't have to be a sci-fi nerd to predict some of the final plot twists, but they were still completely hilarious when they arrived. And I don't mind admitting to a little geekiness. After all, even the coolest person must have an inner nerd.

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I visited Surrey Hills School this morning and had an awesome time with the Year 4s. Thank you to Miss Kong for inviting me and thank you to the other teachers and the pupils for making me so welcome. What a talented bunch you all are. I was blown away by your creative character ideas and some very beautiful artwork (which I've posted here). As always, there were some funny and weird suggestions (my favourites) like 'poison spit', 'sticky feet' and 'a pet giant spider with poisonous fangs'! The best names were 'Olli-zilla' and 'Isabel Invisible'. Brilliant!

I haven't written a post for a few weeks because I've been super-busy finishing loads of illustrations for my next book. Now they're done, I have time for a mini rest (half a day!) before I begin the pics for another book (by someone else this time) and start more school visits. I'm really looking forward to meeting more readers, especially as I've received an invitation from our village school. It's just across the road and it will take about two minutes to walk there (with life-size cut-out Scarlett, of course). I can't wait. I expect the pupils will take one look at me and say, 'Aren't you the orange-haired writer lady we've seen buying milk and Jammy Dodgers in the village shop?' Yes, that's me!!